If you are thinking of buying a tour to the hidden beach, I recommend that you read this article first and then decide.​

​The "Hidden Beach" in Marietas has become so popular that unfortunately we did a lot of damage to this place and that was one of the reasons why it was closed for a few months. The moment that the CONANP (Mexican National Park Protection) decided to reopen it they set really strong Rules and Regulations in order to protect the sealife and assure the conservation of the park for many years to come. I dont blame them because when I found out the number of people that access the hidden beach in the past on high season dates I felt sick to my stomach

​The most important thing that everybody should be aware of and unfortunately a lot of tour companies are not telling you, because if they do they run the risk of "losing the sale" its that No Tour Operator can guarantee the entrance to the hidden beach ahead of time. So if you have anybody telling you that you will access it, they are not being honest. Another thing booking in advance does not guarantee access to the hidden beach. You have the same amount of chances to access it if you book a couple of days or a couple of months in advanced. You can secure your spot on the boat tour but not the access to the hidden beach. This means that you are paying a tour not knowing if you are going to access it or not.

The tour operators have to check availability the same day with Bahía Unida and CONANP, since they regulate all the spots by boat. There are only 116 spots per day for 176 authorized boats to go to the hidden beach. Imagine that!!! (because not all boats have the permit to go to Marietas, you require a special permit to get there) What some boats are doing right now is that if on that day for whatever reason their boat doesnt go out (mechanical issues, they are sick, its their day off, etc...) they "pass" the spots that they were given by Bahia Unida and CONANP to another boat so they can use them.

Here are some of these Rules and Regulations to access the hidden beach:

+Open only from Wednesday to Sunday .- Since they reopen it they decided that on Mondays and Tuesdays it will be closed to all public so they can work on it. I think its a great idea!

+Only people from 10 to 65 years old .- In the past everybody was able to access it. But they notice that babies, little kids and elderly people sometimes were not as strong as its needed when you are swimming to go in and to go out, so that is why they decided to set an age limit.

+10 minutes visit on the beach.- Before it was closed there was not a time limit to be in the beach, but since they reopen it your time is very limited. They actually give you 30 minutes but the time starts the moment that you step out of the boat and you start swimming (around 200 feet) to go into the hidden beach, so taking in consideration the swimming in and swimming out you have a period of approx 10 minutes in the "hidden beach" some people dont consider it enough time to pay the price of the tour or even go through all of these rules and regulations just to be 10 min there. Is it worth it for you?

+Helmet and lifejacket are obligatory.- For your own security you need to wear helmet, because you swim through a short tunnel and it can be rocky so we dont want you to hurt your head which has happened a lot in the past when people didnt wear any helmets.

+Tide must be Medium-Low or Low.- This is the most important reason why there is no way somebody can guarantee the access to the hidden beach ahead of time, because who can predict how the tide will be on that particular day? (not me) if I can predict the future I will predict the lottery winner numbers and get a lottery ticket with them. Anyways back to this regulation, if the tide is High or Medium-high the people that protect the park will not let you access, only if it is Medium-Low or Low all of this for your own security.

+Good Swimmer.- In the past even people that didnt know how to swim were allowed to access and a lot of things happened, so this time they are taking extra precautions since you dont have the help of fins anymore and you are swimming around 200 feet each way so you need to be a good swimmer for your own security.

+116 People per day.- As I mentioned before they are only allowing 116 people per day to "try to access" the hidden beach. This is to protect and conserve the park and sealife.

My personal recommendations

*That you book with a company that has small boats (10-12 passengers), the smaller the boat the more chances that you will have to "try to access the hidden beach"

*If you are in the Riviera Nayarit you can go to Punta de Mita and grab a watertaxi there and you will arrive faster.

*Try to go as early as possible because remember that later on the day the waves are rougher and the tide gets higher.

*I personally will not go through all of this just to visit the "hidden beach" or Marietas, there are many other great places that you can visit and be there as long as you want for example: (Los Arcos, Las Animas, Yelapa, Majahuitas, Colomitos, Quimixto, etc.) take them in consideration.